News Releases

Recently, several articles have appeared that draw a number of erroneous conclusions about Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and its product H.P. Acthar Gel based on misinformation and a variety of distorted and conflated facts. Mallinckrodt disagrees with these views and offers the following basic, but important facts about this critical medicine.

Body of EvidenceH.P. Acthar Gel makes a significant difference in the lives of very sick patients with unmet medical needs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the label in 2010, and determined there in fact was sufficient scientific and clinical evidence to support the 19 indications now in the current label. In most indications, H.P. Acthar Gel is a later line treatment, prescribed by skilled healthcare providers to a small subset of patients who need an alternative treatment option. H.P. Acthar Gel is a first line monotherapy treatment for infantile spasms (IS). The effectiveness of the drug as an IS treatment is supported by two randomized clinical trials, one of which compared H.P. Acthar Gel to prednisone, and is reflected in the IS clinical trial results that appear in Section 14 of the full prescribing information for the drug. A representative sampling of articles citing the clinical experience of H.P. Acthar Gel follow referencing treatment of patients for multiple sclerosis relapse and to induce a remission of proteinuria in nephrotic syndrome:

Substantial additional evidence exists, including company-sponsored controlled clinical trials, investigator-initiated research conducted in top hospitals and medical centers by some of the country’s preeminent physicians, and health economic and outcomes research (HEOR) data. A bibliography referencing hundreds of studies related to H.P. Acthar Gel can be found on the company’s website, and press releases specific to company-sponsored trials for the product can also be found in the news section of the site. Equally important are the more than 50 years of clinical experience physicians have with the product as a demonstrated therapy for appropriate patients.

Mallinckrodt InvestmentAs the company has stated consistently, Mallinckrodt’s goal has been - and continues to be - to acquire under-resourced, under-utilized products like H.P. Acthar Gel that are used in areas of high unmet medical need, typically in narrow patient populations, and then invest significantly in those products. The company invests by building an even larger body of evidence to demonstrate which patients can benefit most from the drug and shares that information with physicians and payers to ensure those patients can get access to the product. This strategy has been very successful, and in the roughly 2.5 years it has owned the product, Mallinckrodt has expanded the number of commercial lives under contract from zero to nearly 60%.

In that same period, Mallinckrodt has initiated three company-sponsored Phase 4 clinical trials for H.P. Acthar Gel (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis). The company also announced a Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial to study the efficacy of the drug in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, for which there are very few effective treatment options available at present. All told, more than 800 patients will be enrolled in these company-sponsored, randomized controlled clinical trials to study H.P. Acthar Gel. Multiple sclerosis studies are also underway or nearing initiation, with studies for other indications under consideration.

These investments, plus manufacturing modernization, investing in safety stocks to ensure maximal product supply, other medical affairs and research activities, and HEOR studies bring the total investment in H.P. Acthar Gel to more than a quarter of a billion dollars since acquiring the product.

ReimbursementSpecific to reimbursement, coverage gains among commercial payers has resulted in the overall payer mix for H.P. Acthar Gel between private and public plans becoming - and staying - relatively stable, and Mallinckrodt is seeing volume growth across both publicly and privately insured patients. Medicare patients represent a slightly higher percentage of overall patients simply because presentation of expanding data sets to healthcare practitioners over time has resulted in increased usage in aging patient populations, particularly in the rheumatology and pulmonology spaces, where Medicare coverage is more likely to be utilized. The per-patient cost of Acthar in Medicare reflects the relatively small numbers of patients being treated with the drug - consistent with its use for only the hard-to-treat patients for whom other alternatives have been ineffective or are no longer tolerated.

In the commercial reimbursement space, the majority of payers have an established pathway for the use of H.P. Acthar Gel in those patients for whom it is appropriately prescribed - those with conditions covered by the FDA-approved label and for whom the product’s extensive existing data and clinical experience support Acthar’s use as a proven therapy. The prior-authorization and reimbursement processes used by commercial payers rely on these criteria.

SummaryMallinckrodt strongly believes in the product’s efficacy in its approved indications and will continue significant investment for H.P. Acthar Gel to ensure those patients who can benefit from the therapy have access to it.

About H.P. Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection) H.P. Acthar Gel is an injectable drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of 19 indications. Of these, today the majority of Acthar use is in these indications:

As an orphan monotherapy medication for the treatment of IS in infants and children under 2 years of age.

Inducing a diuresis or a remission of proteinuria in nephrotic syndrome without uremia of the idiopathic type or that due to lupus erythematosus.

Treatment of acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis in adults.

Use during an exacerbation or as maintenance therapy in selected cases of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Use during an exacerbation or as maintenance therapy in selected cases of systemic dermatomyositis (polymyositis).

Use as adjunct therapy for short-term administration in select cases of rheumatoid arthritis, to tide patients over an acute episode or exacerbation.

Treatment of symptomatic sarcoidosis.

For more information about Acthar, please visit www.acthar.com. Full Prescribing Information may be accessed here.

Important Safety Information

Acthar should never be administered intravenously.

Administration of live or live attenuated vaccines is contraindicated in patients receiving immunosuppressive doses of Acthar.

Acthar is contraindicated where congenital infections are suspected in infants.

The adverse effects of Acthar are related primarily to its steroidogenic effects.

Acthar may increase susceptibility to new infection or reactivation of latent infections.

Suppression of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis may occur following prolonged therapy with the potential for adrenal insufficiency after withdrawal of the medication. Cushing's Syndrome may occur during therapy but generally resolves after therapy is stopped. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms.

Monitor patients for elevation of blood pressure, salt and water retention, and hypokalemia.

Acthar often acts by masking symptoms of other diseases/disorders. Monitor patients carefully during and following discontinuation.

Acthar can cause gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and gastric ulcer with an increased risk for perforation with certain GI disorders. Monitor for signs of bleeding.

Specific adverse reactions reported in IS clinical trials in infants and children under 2 years of age included: infection, hypertension, irritability, Cushingoid symptoms, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, pyrexia, weight gain, increased appetite, decreased appetite, nasal congestion, acne, rash, and cardiac hypertrophy. Convulsions were also reported, but these may actually be occurring because some IS patients progress to other forms of seizures and IS sometimes mask other seizures, which become visible once the clinical spasms from IS resolve.

Please see full Prescribing Information here for additional Important Safety Information.

ABOUT MALLINCKRODTMallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology and ophthalmology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; and analgesics and hemostasis products. The company's core strengths include the acquisition and management of highly regulated raw materials and specialized chemistry, formulation and manufacturing capabilities. The company's Specialty Brands segment includes branded medicines and its Specialty Generics segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and external manufacturing. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.

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